Special Tool Time

With Benny actually not in need of 24 hour helicopter parenting I then went to indulge in some cub time.

Given the slight change in scope, the allotted job for now was the de-forking of the cub (which sounds like something they do to chickens…)

 I had planned to do this any way, (but just not today) so I had purchased a 32mm socket (as recommended by the workshop manual) when I was at the hardware store earlier in the week (to be honest, I actually went to an Auto parts place on the way home). For the first time in a long time I can say, yes, there was good planning in something that I was doing on a break!

Anyway, the Haynes manual had recommended that I improvise a 3mm wide “staple” that would allow the socket to drive the handle bar retaining nut.

Initially I had the idea of making a “proper” improvised special tool with some key steel (that I had found on the driveway outside my house one day). I thought I would file it down, weld it together & have a “Custom Made Honda Cub Fork Nut Removal Special Tool”. This would go down rather well to the Uber-Nerd Honda Cub loving Vespa riding side of me…

So, into the vice & out with the file…

The section of key steel...

D’oh this is hard; so let’s try pressing “down” on the key steel instead (mechanical advantage & all)

OK, the previous way didn't work & neither does this...

Nope… Ten minutes was enough filing to realize that I was on a caning to nothing! If I continued this would take forever!

I thought I would check before starting with the hacksaw...

Then I remembered the off cut steel that I used on the seat… & the fact that I had a nice length of it left over… AND that it was easy to cut with my hacksaw…

Like a Hacksaw thru non-hardened steel

How much better is this!

So a couple of bends in the vice & a quick file to get the outside profile into something that resembled the diagram in the book. This was a bit loose; so rather than risking catastrophe, I decided to add in an additional staple to make sure that the nut was freed without damage… more hacksawing & bending & swearing later yippee, succeeded in getting the dammed handle bars & forks off

I put the staple onto the retaining nut...

...before adding the other staple & putting the socket on top

After a small success like this I am beginning to feel like a mechanic (if only a bad one!)

So the ball bearings fell out as soon as I lifted the top of the handlebar assembly out, & the same happened as I removed the forks too. The grease inside looked a bit gritty, but then, I don’t have any new grease to compare it with either.

The topless fork assembly!

There was a plastic dust seal at the top of the handle bars, this turned out to be broken as well (another thing on the list that I will have to buy before I can put it together) probably sooner rather than later!

With the forks free I could remove the steering lock... 

Ahh the bright green screwdriver may look funny but it does stand out!

 I intend to replace the fork bearings anyway as I reckon that they would’ve coped heaps of abuse as the farmers run-around-bike so the broken plastic doesn’t worry me too much at the moment. I will just have to see if I can read a part number on the sides of the bearings when I pull them out. Looks like I will need a heap of grease for them as well. 

I will have to save up & buy all this all at the same time… I will even consult my workshop manual for the correct grease, part & bearing numbers; how is that for project management & planning ahead!

So Mote it Be

Leigh

D’oh!

So the Thursday school run went well & I said to myself, yep, I am going to go for a buzz on the The Silver Surfer after I do the school run … by the time I had done my coffee & some other stuff, I was getting excited. I had the mighty beast out & was mid-fueling him when the phone rang… D’oh

Stopped! I like my green 2 stroke petrol can (as opposed to the red one for normal fuel). It is good for keeping the wrong fuel out of the wrong bikes. I will admit that these 2 colors could be a problem if I was color blind!

It turns out that Benny was crook & needed to be picked up from school; double D’oh.

I called the Child Bride to let her know & then off to school… Benny was rather hot & flustered & had spewed (so he definitely wasn’t chucking a sickie)

Anyway, Benny was well enuff to sip water, play Lego & watch TV – although I was not letting him sit around without a bucket close by… Triple D’oh

So No Vespa for me! BUT, on the upside this did let me do some Cub work instead, I would just have to stick my head back into the house every now & then to make sure he was OK.

A 7 year old boy with Lego will always be happy, so I didn't have to worry there!

Life is Good - So Mote it Be!

Cheerio

Leigh

By The seat of my Pants!

OK, so the daily routine of kids + school started afresh on Monday morning.

As it was a Monday, this meant that Benny only went to school; whilst Danny got to stay at home & play with the Cub.

On today’s menu was seat striping for real. Although I strategically got Danny to "assist" in important jobs like tightening up the vice...

Danny "helping"... he decided to chase Lenny the Dog for about 10 minutes after this pic - but hey, he was having fun!

First up, the bolts that hold the strap to the bottom of the seat; a slap of pen-o-trene & a socket & this was done. Bummer, turns out the steel strap is totally rusted thru & buggered. Oh well, this is a hobby & I should be grateful for the additional challenge…

Underneath...not so bad

Next the old vinyl that was covering it… 10 minutes with a Stanley knife & I was looking at a rather tatty old seat innards that had seen the ruff end of some bad weather & a lot of abuse… still, it can’t be all bad can it???

Hmm, I suspect that this seat saw alot of action without a cover...

Oh Boy, look at all that crap - AND this photo is rather complimentary of the rust!

Then came the seat frame; I knew I would be spending a bit of time with a wire brush when I started this thing, but holly cow, I reckon that BHP could mine the dirt & rust that came from the base! The positive news was that the beading that I was going to araldite to the frame turned out to be in rather good condition, the splits that my upholsterer had seen were confined to two discrete wear points only, I was rather happy to see less work than I had anticipated on this front

That being said, I ended up doing a quick run to the local hardware stare to by one of those wire brush attachments for my drill. I also had to get some other stuff for “prettying” up the house that also took a bit of my time & detracted from my Cub-vana day…

That being said, I eventually got a lot rust off the old thing; there was still quite a bit left. So, I rang the upholsterer & asked what I should do. Again, his good advice was to use that rust killer stuff after removing all the loose material (as any paint or loose material will be lifted off by his glue).

Is it just me, or does the kill rust acid look totally evil when wet? - the "dry" after pic didn't work out

Cool – on with the kill rust (I wisely did this outside the shed so I didn’t get fumed out) & then, wiped the excess off with a damp cloth. I put the thing back in the shed & left to get changed to pick up Ben from school. Dam time flies when you are busy doing stuff doesn’t it!

The dust from the seat, not including all the dust I recon I inhaled into the mask...

 OK, so Tuesday saw me do the school run & then Danny & I head to a local steel supply place to get an off cut piece of steel that I could mold into a new strap holder. This wasn’t a huge issue & the cool bit was that Danny got to step on the foot trigger to trim the offcut. He then proceeded to carry the off cut around like a sword until we got to the car & I removed it from him (as I did not want a window broken!). This cost me some loose change.

Next, I gave the plastic trim bit a dam good clean; there was a veritable ship load of rust & grit in the channel, but my wire brush made short work of that & I then cleaned it with detergent (in the kitchen sink…!). I left it dry in the sun before aralditeing it to the stripped steel frame in the afternoon.

Then it was straight into the vice to cut it to length. The hacksaw was used (as I didn’t want the hot sparks from the angle grinder setting fire to the shed!)

Next, mark & punch the holes & drill out. Then the fun of filing the two end holes into oblong-ish shapes (like the original…) gawd, why didn’t I just buy something from E-Bay! Anyway, I found an old chainsaw tooth sharpening file that fitted the bill quite well & eventually I got there.

Start of the strap holder - I was hating filing after this...

The final product - yep, I should have put them side by side as they were not that different (just my new one was thicker!)

A couple of quick bends & a quick squirt of black cold-gal spray paint & voila! Slightly heavier (by about double the weight, but then, I don’t mind & I don’t think performance of the love Cub will suffer as a result

Well that was productive & just in time to go pick up Benny from school again. I am beginning to feel pleased with my progress!

Wednesday morning was a bit of a loss; unfortunately, both boys (& I) slept in, so I missed the chance to take the seat to the upholsterers in the school run, but after dropping both boys I got the chance for a very stiff cup of Goroka Blue PNG coffee before reassembling the seat, & printing out a couple of the pictures of the seat that I wanted him to re-create (oh thank you Mr Google Images!)

Underneath, bead fitter, strap holder in place

As sent to the Upholsterers...

Cool, now to deliver & do a whole heap of stuff (boring food shopping & paperwork-y things that I’ll not bore you with the details of in this blog!)

So this is all going very well, & the weather was even looking good for a nice spin on Thursday.

How great is it to be alive?

So Mote it be

Leigh

Unleashing the Inner Bogan

OK, so I got back to OJ & was brimming with cub-like anticipation…

Unfortunately for Cub-fetish, my return corresponded with Benny’s 7^th birthday – a rather large event in a child’s life in the Philippines (the Child Brides Homeland) and despite her total ocker Australian-ness we had a rather large (combined) birthday soiree for both the boys.

The event was celebrated with the traditional BBQ & me consumption of vast amounts of alcohol…

This event was then topped off with a monster truck rally on the Sunday.  As we all know these events are nothing more than an organised crushing of old crappy cars by massive V8 behemoths… with some freestyle motocross thrown in for good measure, but it is kinda cool. Especially the Jet powered van & the destruction of a car by repeatedly dropping it from a crane at great height!

Danny & his Monster truck experience...

Danny loved the Raptors Rampage” & made his Mum by him a T shirt to celebrate! The weather was bloody freezing & to be honest, I got a tad bored towards the end… it was about half an hour too long (IMHO) & as I didn’t pay for the tickets (The Child Bride did) I wasn’t concerned with the cost… but the boys loved it…

Yep; a delivery Van with a Rolls Royce jet engine mounted in the back...cool!

 Anyway, for those of you not in OZ, a bogan is the OZ term for what our American brothers would term “Trash” think of such luminaries as Shane Warne, Kerry Packer & almost any Australian tourist in an Ozzy footy top (especially if they are covered in Tattoos...). Well an event like the Monster trucks certainly unleashed the inner bogan of quite a few of my acquaintances!

So that was the first few days of the break stuffed, so as of Monday the Cub Fetish would be able to be acted on & that is what my next post will be about!

Cheerio
Leigh